Resource allocation is determined by both parents and offspring in a burying beetle

Parents and offspring have different optima for the level of parental
resource allocation and the timing of nutritional independence.
Theoretical models assume that either parents or offspring control the
allocation of resources within a brood; however, control may also be
mutual. Here we investigate whether the resolution of parent-offspring
conflict is biased towards cues from either the parents' or the
offspring's behaviour, or whether the conflict is under mutual
control. Importantly, we considered potential shifts in the power
continuum over the entire period of juvenile dependency. The burying
beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides parents provision food for the larvae, and
the larvae solicit food from their parents with conspicuous begging
displays. Both parental and larval behaviours change as larvae age. We
repeatedly manipulated the age of the brood females care for, thereby
creating mismatch between the age of the foster brood and expected age of
the brood from the female parent's perspective, over the period of
dependency in juvenile development. We found that females adjusted the
total amount of provisioning based on the actual age of the brood.
However, both the parent and the offspring influenced the levels of food
provisioning, which followed neither the expected age of the brood from
the parent's perspective nor offspring age. Our results suggest that
there is mutual control over parental care, thus contradicting the
dichotomous view of control over parental care. We suggest that the mutual
influence of both parents and the offspring should be taken into account
in development of future theory, as well as empirical studies.